A four-member team from Visakhapatnam city police commissionerate that had gone to Jodhpur in Rajasthan to arrest and recover the gold in connection with a dacoity case that took place in PM Palem in the city, was arrested by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Rajasthan for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from the accused persons in the case for not arresting and removing their names from the case.
The arrested police officers from the city have been identified as Inspector of Crime Wing (North Division) RVRK Choudhari, Sub-Inspectors Sk Sharif (Parawada Police Station) and Gopal Rao (MR Peta police station) and constable of One-Town police station S Hari Prasad.
It may be recalled that a trader N Rakesh (native of Rajasthan and resident of PM Palem) with the support four persons, made good with 3 kg of gold worth ₹ 80 lakh belonging to a fellow businessman B Venkata Ramana from Guntur district by threatening him at gunpoint at PM Palem area in the city in August 2017.
The police team from city arrested two accused on Sunday in Rajasthan in connection with the case and also approached the receiver of the stolen booty. It was alleged that the team reportedly demanded ₹ 2 lakh as bribe for letting them off the hook, including the receiver.
The receiver reportedly recorded the conversation and informed the ACB of Rajasthan.
The ACB, laid a trap and the four-member police team from Visakhapatnam was arrested when they were allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹ 25,000 from the accused as advance on Monday.
However, Inspector Chaudhari who spoke to the Commissioner of Police T. Yoganand pleaded their innocence and claimed that they were being framed, and they were only recovering the stolen property when they were caught by the ACB officials.
It is learnt that the IG ACB of Rajasthan had spoken to Mr. Yoganand in the morning and levelled serious charges.
“We are not sure what has happened, but we are sending our DCP (Crimes) Shemushi Bajpai to do an independent inquiry from our side,” said Mr. Yoganand.
ACB version
As per the ACB version, the Visakhapatnam team had come to Jodhpur and arrested Shravan Soni and Hanuman Prajapat alias Ram Niwas three days ago.
However, after arresting the accused the Andhra team didn’t return to the home state and rather moved around in Jodhpur. The Andhra police team then reportedly forced Shravan Soni to withdraw ₹ 25,000 from his ATM to pay them as advance.
When another accused Ram Niwas was asked to arrange for the remaining amount he approached the ACB.
